Brian Atwater, PhD, Utah State University

Dr. Atwater is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at Utah State University. He is Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM) by the APICS, The Association for Operations Management, and currently sits on the review committee for the Master Planning of Resources exam. He is a certified academic associate (JONAH) of the Goldratt Institute.

Dr. Atwater has also worked as an examiner for the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing and provided professional consulting services for the operations of several companies including Apple Computers, Hewlett-Packard, Carrier Transicold, Schuller/Manville, and 3M Corporation.

William Best, Warner Robbins ALC

Mr. William D. Best is the Deputy Director of the 402nd Aircraft Maintenance Group, at Warner Robins Ait Logistics Center. The 3,000-member group is responsible for the maintenance of F-15, C-5, C-17, C-130 Special Operation aircraft as well as global combat logistics support for a Combat Logistics Squadron.

Mr. Best holds a BS from the University of Georgia and an MBA from the University of Tennessee. Bill is also a certified TOC Jonah, and Jonah’s Jonah. As a member of the team that won the 2006 Franz Edelman Award, Bill was also recognized with the team winning the 2006 Chief of Staff Team Excellence Award for improvements in the C-5 Maintenance line.

Andy Drake, Weber State University

Andy Drake is a Professor of Manufacturing Engineering at Weber State University. He teaches Supervision in Manufacturing, Six Sigma Methods and Tools in Manufacturing, Process Automation, Project Planning and Estimating, and other special topics. Serving as Department Head for the Manufacturing Engineering Technology department at WSU, he holds a BS from Brigham Young University, and an MS from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Andy has worked with several organizations such as Boeing, McDonald Douglas, Fresenius Medical, Parker-Hannifin, AutoLiv, and many more, as a Six Sigma engineer implementing Statistical Process Control (SPC) and Kanban Systems.

Robert Fox, TOC Center

Mr. Fox has spent the last 40 years helping companies grow sales and profits. His career has been divided into two distinct parts. He spent the first half in various industries, starting as a foreman and progressing through a variety of management positions to become general manager and president. In 1980, he began a management consulting career serving first as a vice president of Booz Allen and Hamilton and then as president and co-founder of The Goldratt Institute. In 1993, he founded the TOC Center, Inc.

He has experienced and participated in the many management improvement techniques of the time – ranging from the early use of computers, through MRP/ERP, the Quality Movement, Lean and Six Sigma. In the early 80’s, he joined with Dr. Eli Goldratt to develop and spread The Theory of Constraints (TOC). He is a co-author of The Race and The Theory of Constraints Journals. He has lectured widely in the United States, Europe and Asia. Mr. Fox holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame and Carnegie Mellon University.

His experience has given him a unique perspective on the value of the various improvement techniques of the last 50 years. Each new approach is initially touted with high expectations followed by large investments of time and money that yield disappointing bottom line benefits. In the end, these efforts are often justified by claiming that, “we’d be much worse off if we hadn’t done them”. Mr. Fox’s view is that the problem does not lie in the techniques themselves, but in how they are applied. He is an ardent believer that if improvement efforts are focused directly on the constraints of the company that the growth in sales and profits will be dramatic. If they are not, then the bottom-line results will be minimal.

Rick Gayheart, L3 Communications

Mr. Gayheart is a Senior Staff Engineering Consultant at L3 Communications. He holds a BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering and is a Certified TOC Jonah. He has been Director of Test Operations, Director of Manufacturing Engineering, Canadian Programs Manager, and manager of Airborne Mechanical Design at L-3 Communications. Rick was the Technical Project Manager for the “Eagle Rescue” Joint Demonstration in Collier County, Florida. Mr. Gayheart has over 30 years of engineering and management experience.

Using the TOC Thinking Processes, Rick has led improvement efforts within L3’s engineering processes to begin the implementation of Critical Chain Project Management.

James Holt, PhD, Washington State University

Dr. James R. Holt is an Associate Professor of Engineering Management at Washington State University. He teaches Organizational Behavior, Operations Research, Statistics, Engineering Economics, Simulation, Information Systems, Constraints Management and other special topics. Serving as department head at the Air Force Institute of Technology in Ohio, he holds a BS from Utah State University, an MS from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University.

Dr. Holt is certified in the TOC; Thinking Processes, Operations Management, Project Management, and Holistic Strategy as well as a Certified Academic Jonah, and Jonah’s Jonah. He serves on the board of directors for TOC-International Certification Organization.

Larry Leach, Control Point Technologies

Author of  Lean Project Management, Critical Chain Project Management, and numerous articles on project management practices, Larry Leach is widely recognized as one of the country’s foremost experts on Project Management.

Receiving Masters’ Degrees in both Business Management from the University of Idaho, and in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Connecticut, Larry also teaches MBA courses. Larry is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Project Management Professional, and Theory of Constraints Jonah’s Jonah with the Goldratt institute.

Terry Lee, PhD, Brigham Young University

Dr. Terry Nels Lee is a Professor Emeritus from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Business. Dr. Lee has a BS, from the University of Utah, an MBA from Brigham Young University, and a PhD from the University of Washington. Dr. Lee is an Academic Jonah with the Goldratt Institute and author of several books and articles on management practices.

Dilworth Lyman, L3 Communications

For the last five years Dilworth has led Continuous Process Improvements at L3 Communications. In his current position as Lean Sigma Champion, he has implemented process improvement projects in both engineering and manufacturing areas.

In addition to his BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Brigham Young University, Mr. Lyman is a Six Sigma Black Belt and TOC Jonah.

Kevin Naya, Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems

As a director of Lean Initiatives at Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, Mr. Naya has 22 years of experience in high-tech product development, primarily in the satellite industry. Earlier, at Hughes Space Company, he worked on a handful of successful government programs, including the GOES Weather Satellite and the Magellan Venus Radar Mapper. Kevin was an engineer on a program team that received the NRO Gold Medal of Distinguished Performance and the David Packard Award, the Department of Defense's highest award for acquisition. Kevin holds a BS degree in electrical engineering, a MS degree in statistical communication and an MBA.

Bruce H. Nelson

Mr. Nelson has 28 years combined experience as a vice president, director, consultant and program/project Manager. He excels in the areas of program development and planning, TOC analysis and implementation, company strategy development, and technical/administrative problem solving.

Mr. Nelson is a certified Jonah, Jonah’s Jonah, and is also a board certified Jonah from the TOC International Certification Organization. In addition to his BS degrees in Chemistry, Zoology, and Allied Health from Weber State University, and an MS degree in Physics from the University of Utah, Bruce has also been trained in Total Quality Management, (TQM), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and Statistical Process Control, (SPC).

K. Barton Penrod

In 1991 Mr. Penrod received a grant from NASA to research cutting edge approaches to support the shuttle booster redesign, this led him to the Goldratt Institute. While studying at AGI with Dr. Eli Goldratt and Mr. Robert Fox, he contributed to the advancement of the Theory of Constraints and graduated as a Jonah, Information Systems Jonah, and Jonah’s Jonah.

Following the release of the Japanese translation of “The Goal” in 2002, Bart was invited to Japan where he lectured extensively on TOC at Toyota, Hitachi, Panasonic, Nippon Steel, and others. Recognized as a world authority in TOC and one of its chief implementers, Bart now spends the majority of his time, applying the techniques he has helped develop to his personal enterprises.

Russ M. Pirasteh, PhD, Sanmina-SCI Corporation

Dr. Russ Pirasteh is currently Director of Operations Excellence & Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) for Sanmina-SCI Corporation-LRS Division. He has held executive, staff and line positions with 23 years of experience in implementation of continuous improvement systems in manufacturing and transactional environments. He earned a Ph.D. in Engineering, an MBA in Industrial Management, a BS in Industrial Engineering, Certified Master Black Belt- Lean Six Sigma, and Certified Lean Master. He has formulated TOC/Lean/Six-Sigma (TLS) CPI methodology to fill the gaps among CPI approaches he has experienced. Russ has published numerous articles, including “Continuous Improvement Trio." He is a member of APICS, IE, and ASQ.

Tony LaTurner, PhD, Brigham Young University

Dr. Tony LaTurner is a professor at Brigham Young University. He teaches Operations & Supply Chain Management, Six-Sigma, Lean & Theory Of  Constraints (TOC) courses. Tony has been teaching and consulting for over 20 years and holds a BS from BYU, an MS and Ph.D. from California Coast University.

Recently, Tony participated in a process improvement project with the U.S. Navy, achieving dramatic improvements within their maintenance and repair operations. Dr. LaTurner is certified in Six Sigma as a Master Black Belt, TOC as a Jonah’s Jonah, and holds a Master Certification in Lean. He has implemented improvement projects at many fortune 500 corporations and worked extensively with Department of Defense organizations.

Daniel Walsh, Vector Strategies

After a successful career in leading large organizations, which includes a maintenance depot for F14s, and 7 naval shipyards, Daniel Walsh founded Vector Strategies, a Theory of Constraints focused company. He has worked with companies in the pharmaceutical, building, engineering, manufacturing, aerospace & defense industries, and achieved notoriety for his work with naval shipyards, and air craft maintenance areas.

Daniel Walsh is a certified Jonah’s Jonah and currently serving on the board of the TOC International Certification Organization, which is dedicated to setting the standards, testing and certifying competency in TOC.